How often are young players labeled ‘wonderkids’ after showing the slightest bit potential? Way too often. And how often do those players live up to their lofty potentials? Much less often. It is an unfortunate thing to be labeled a failed wonderkid, but at the end of the day, it is just part of the game. Why do these players end up failing to live up to the hype? There are many, many different reasons. Some of those reasons can be determined by looking at some of Croatia’s recent failed talents and analyze why they might not have turned out to be as good as people thought they would be.
Alen Halilović – You can’t talk about failed wonderkids and not mention Alen Halilović. Halilović had the world at his feet after becoming the youngest debutant in 1. HNL history and shortly after, the youngest goal scorer in HNL history. He even made his debut for Croatia at 16 years old, becoming the youngest debutant in Croatian national team history. Before he knew it, he was on his way to Barcelona to play for their B team being labeled the ‘Croatian Messi.’ But after just two years, he left Barcelona to join Hamburg and is now owned by AC Milan on loan at Heerenveen in the Netherlands. So what went wrong? Rumor has it that he has a bad attitude and that his father manages him very poorly, practically forcing him away from Dinamo Zagreb and using his son for his own financial gain. The hype got to young Alen and he became too big for his boots. He chose to transfer to Hamburg solely because they were offering him more money than Valencia, who at the time seemed like a much better fit after a successful loan at Sporting Gijon. Even the free transfer for AC Milan made no sense. He had not proven himself at virtually any decent club. Why go to a giant club like AC Milan to sit on the bench? Many, including myself, have lost a lot of faith in him after these last few unsuccessful years, but he is still only 23 years old so we will see if he can turn it around and actually become a player of note.
Josip Radošević – Josip Radošević was supposed to be the future starting defensive midfielder of the national team after showing some great ability at Hajduk Split. He was good on the ball, had good passing vision, and seemed to be pretty tactically aware. His one and only national team cap came in a 1-1 draw against Belgium where Radošević started and played 78 minutes making him the youngest debutant in Croatian national team history at the time. In January 2013, he transferred to Napoli and did not make an appearance until the first game of the next season. He was loaned back to Croatia with Rijeka, then to Eibar in Spain, before transferring to Red Bull Salzburg, then back to Hajduk Split and finally has found a place to stay for a bit at Brondby in Denmark. In my opinion, the main reason he hasn’t become as good as he could have been was that he just moved to too big of a team too early for a player of his ability. I remember reading an article about him saying he was lighting it up in training, but still wasn’t getting any playing time at Napoli. He spent about a year of his key development time sitting on the bench. But now 26 years old, it might just be too late for him to push his way back into the national team with Marcelo Brozović holding down the defensive midfield spot and other young talents coming up through the ranks. Only time will tell.
Matej Delač – Matej Delač made his debut for Inter Zaprešić back in 2009, becoming the youngest player to ever appear in the 1. HNL at the time. In this match, he saved a penalty and earned man of the match as his team beat NK Zagreb 1-0. He looked to be Croatia’s goalkeeper of the future after being called up to be the third-choice goalkeeper. After continuing to impress in Croatia, Delač made the move to Chelsea. In typical Chelsea fashion, Delač was loaned out to seven different teams in eight years actually becoming their longest serving player at one point while never making a single appearance for them. Like Radošević, he moved to too big of a club too early in his career. Yes, he got loaned out instantly, but in his first three loan moves he made a total of 2 league appearances. That is just not good for a young player. At 27 years old, Delač can likely kiss his chances of getting a cap for Croatia goodbye with Dominik Livaković currently holding the number 1 spot and many others coming before Delač in the pecking order.
Andrija Balić – Andrija Balić looked like he had the ability to be a top player in his appearances at Hajduk Split. Anyone who has seen even just his highlight videos knows the kid has some skills. He is, like most Croatian midfielders, very technically gifted. He would dribble by a couple players and then ping a pass to a player down the wing and it just looked so effortless. Not only this, but he was always a threat to crack a long shot into the top corner. He caught the eye of Udinese and moved to the Italian team in February 2016. It looked like a decent move at the time. Udinese was a mid-table club and Balić was a talented young midfielder that would show flashes of brilliance every time he played. But Udinese hardly gave him the chance to show even those flashes of his potential. He did not play a single time that season and had to wait until the end of the next season to finally make a few appearances, actually scoring a very nice goal in a 5-2 loss against Inter Milan. However, he has never really shown more than those flashes of ability going out on uneventful loans to three teams in the last two seasons. I just think that first year and a half at Udinese really stunted his development big time. He probably would have been better off just staying at Hajduk for that time and waiting until he could join a team that was planning to start him. He is still owned by Udinese and is only 22 years old, so there is still plenty of time for him to start being more consistent and develop into a decently player.
Marko Pjaca – Back in 2016, Marko Pjaca was really coming into his own as a player. He was a young winger that could blow past defenders with his explosiveness and close control dribbling. His appearances for Croatia in Euro 2016 had Croatian fans excited as there was finally going to be another good winger to play with Ivan Perišić. Big clubs started to take notice of his performances at Dinamo Zagreb as well as his few appearances with the Croatian national team. Juventus pounced and made him the most expensive player in 1. HNL history, more expensive than Luka Modrić was when he was purchased by Tottenham. He looked to be starting to break into the rotation at Juventus and even scored a winning goal in a Champions League victory over Porto, but then injury struck while on international duty playing on a terrible field in Estonia. Pjaca has just never really recovered from that horrible knee injury. Re-injuring it and injuring his other knee as well. He’s had a couple relatively unsuccessful loan moves with his most recent loan move to Anderlecht starting off well with him scoring a goal in three league appearances but being halted due to COVID-19. Knee injuries are tough to truly recover from, so for now, Pjaca will have to be labeled a ‘failed wonderkid,’ but hopefully he can find a way to turn things around. He is still only 25 years old, but will have to overtake Ivan Perišić, Ante Rebić or Josip Brekalo if he wants to get playing time for the national team any time soon.
It’s hard to see such talented youngsters not pan out the way that they seemed like they might, but professional soccer is a tough business, and if you don’t turn out to be as good as hoped, most clubs will just look to the next guy up.
Who are some of your favorite wonderkids who didn’t live up to their potential?
Honorable Mentions: Ante Ćorić, Stipe Perica, Marko Livaja, Tomislav Gomelt, Matej Mitrović, Marko Rog, Ante Vukušić
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I served my time in jail and now I am a changed man. Any donation would be appreciated by any true Croat here to help a fellow Croat in need. I’m helping children in DR with supplies for schools. My goal is $3,000. Please help and god will be good back to you. Pozdrav svima iz NJ
Hi guys I’m back. Please help me with my changed ways and do something good for children. I have invested heavily in Dominican Rep, my new business venture with the help of my new Dominican girl we opened http://www.crocaribespa.com/
We want to do something good for the kids go here.
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Come on guys let’s all be crominican
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sham war
@ProWhiteHeretic
Where did I call you “soulless”?
što od tebe napravi tuđina? Surely not there you American idiot!
I’m just deeply rooted in Croatian history and I’m proud of it you heretic shit?
Who dumped the Croats into communist Yugoslavia after wwii to set them up for a sham in the future? My answer is white heretic trash like you!
Can you point to even ONE Communist on this entire planet who is pro-white ya RETARD?
Stop hiding behind the croatian language, speak english.
Why is it okay to be pro croatian but being pro-white is not?
You called me “soulless”, explain how so?
@WhiteHereticCommie
“a u duši nemam ništa”
Where does he have nothing?
You’d be better off not responding to my comments if you don’t even read ’em ya muppet.
@pro croatian guy, AGAIN you showed everyone what an absolute MORON you are. I’m pro-white yet you call me a “commie”. You’re a RETARD.
Saying someone has no soul and soulless are the SAME thing. You’re a RETARD.
And AGAIN, you avoid my question: Why is being pro croatian okay but being pro-white is not?
@WhiteHereticCommie
“A Good Honest Catholic calls other people “soulless” without even attempting to explain how so.”
“ja sam ovdje bogat čovjek a duši nemam ništa…. samo nemoj reći oj sokole što od mene napravi tuđina”
I didn’t say “soulless” (everyone has a soul ya muppet), I said empty souls in keeping with the lyrics of that great song.
A Good Honest Catholic calls other people “soulless” without even attempting to explain how so.
Why is it okay to be pro-croatian but it’s “soulless” to be pro-white?
You can’t answer that question either but you’re great at pretending you’re right. You see I don’t just call you a cowardly moron, I PROVE it.
@Anonymous of 5:39pm, you can’t refute ONE thing I say, so you call me names. You’re Good Honest Catholic right?
I proved what “the Truth” said is bullshit.
To you a Croatian is not someone with Croatian blood, a Croatian is someone who agrees with you, meaning anyone not concerned with the truth, but instead fitting in right COWARD? You’re a Good Honest Catholic right? You have so much courage you would have even stood up for Jesus back in the day! You have so much soul!
@pro croatian guy, you still haven’t refuted any one of the about 50 times I’ve proven to everyone what an absolute moron you are. That anonymous comment wasn’t mine. But if it was, how would that make me a “double agent”? Of course you won’t answer this question either b/c you have no idea what you’re talking about, a shit for brains is only capable of spewing shit out of his mouth of course.
@Anon – What do you mean? Ya gavoree Horvatska dobri
You fools know what life is like in France, Italy, the U.S and Canada, but what about Croatia, how is life in Croatia?
Anyway muppets, another great song, read some of the comments in the comments esction. Maybe we can make Croats out of you muppets still?
https://youtu.be/ezTHDAzu9ng
“samo nemoj reći oj sokole što od mene napravi tuđina.”
@The truth and @Pro white guy are two empty souls, nothing Croatian about those two bozos, how many of you other guys are just like them?
I know a lot of non Croats that are fans of Croatian football, I always tell them, “then you’re as Croatian as the people on Croatiansports.com, like you they don’t speak Croatian either.”
^
I see @pro white guy now! He’s a double agent lol!
“As long ago as the 1940’s the Party was planning cynically to use the Negroes as instruments in the revolution-to-come in the United States. The theory, contrived by Stalin and unleashed by Foster, was to encourage “self-determination of the Negroes in the black belt” and the establishment of a Negro nation with the right to secede from the United States.”
Bayern donned “black lives matter” tee shirts today. Was anyone allowed NOT to wear them? “Diversity” and free speech cannot exist together.
What’s hilarious is how these moral cowards think being establishment toadies, doing and saying what the establishment wants, which incurs no risk at all, is somehow “taking a stand”. LOL! Yea okay.
The Truth becoming one of my favourite posters lately.
@”The truth”, shut up you cowardly moron traitor cuckservative.
How is there “systematic racism” if blacks have a MUCH higher standard of living and are MUCH safer in White countries than in black countries?
Why don’t blacks declare independence/segregation if they want to end “systematic racism”?
a quick subject on the American protests
the anger is completely justified.. there has been systematic racism against people of color and has resulted in incredible inequity
my own company put out a statement condemning police brutality and system racism and pledging to do what we can to help solve. we are already looking at ways we can offer more employment opportunities to underserved communities of color
I am also thankful for my son’s Columbia education, which has long been an institution that has been spearheadeding the intellectual push to get society to accepts its racism and challenge it to make changes. I love meeting his friends and hearing how progressive their thinking is and I can’t help but think to myself these kids can change the world.
It’s incredible school president Bollinger argued long ago in front of the supreme court in favor of affirmative action, and his case is becoming stronger and stronger by the day.
@ maminjo
well I guess the question is what is the standard for whether these guys busts or not
i’d say relative to expectations, most have likely been busts
but that’s not really fair to say, because my main point is the expectations are not realistic
halilovic the Croatian messi, brozovic the Croatian Xavi, kovacic the next modric… by those standards, they have all failed
will Croatia continue to produce solid players though …I think definitely…. there’s a long history of Croatia being a better than average soccer team so that track record would suggest it continue
like you mentioned…there will also be some late bloomers
@pro croatian guy said: “Hey dopey, your white America doesn’t exist anymore, if it ever did lol. Didn’t white protestants need negroes to their yard work for ‘em? Then they even copulated and procreated with negroes, so what’s your problem libtard?”
Once AGAIN I caught the antiWhite in two faced lie. He says America is not a white country and then blames whites for America did. You see, he’s Good Honest Catholic.
And one more thing @pro croatian guy, while you fight phantom Chetniks and a phantom 30 Years War, I’ll keep pointing out that my race must stop acting like a majority and start acting like one of numerous minority groups fighting ONLY for our own self interests – we’ll be the most powerful minority group in American history. What should be done to white TRAITORS?
Typical cowardly morons on this site justifying the suppression of free speech, the same guys who say “politics and sports don’t mix” – well that ship has sailed a long time ago. How would you feel if you lost your job b/c your wife said something heretical on social media? When they come to execute you and your family because your five year old doodled a swastika in his coloring book, you’ll have no right to complain.
@pro croatian guy, once AGAIN you showed yourself to be the MORON I keep pointing out you are. What in God’s name makes you think I’m a liberal? And no shit Sherlock “White America doesn’t exist anymore” – Why the hell do you think I’m here pointing out that ‘diversity means chasing down the last white person’?
You NEVER refute anything I say, never even attempt to answer any question I ask you. You just go on to talk about something else but keep pretending you’re right b/c you’re a good honest Catholic right?
Young Truth Troll playing FIFA (running models) and calling people mean names yet again
You were wrong about Vlasic and Brozovic though.
And Kovacic is coming around, so you are likely wrong about him too.
Add in Brekalo, and that’s already a decent core of young players that can play for the National Team today (without knowing who else will be making major strides over the next two years from our U21 and U19 players).
The important thing is that we have a sizable base of talented players.
For example, players under the age of 20 already include guys like Domagoj Bradaric, Josko Gvardiol, Antonio Marin, Sandro Kulenovic, Mario Vuskovic and Luka Sucic.
These guys are doing amazing things in the UEFA youth competitions, are considered high potential prospects, and are playing at senior club level.
But even if only one of these guys becomes an impact player…then that is still good news.
There are other players in their age group that will bloom late, there are guys in the U21 group that will become key players, and there are guys I’m sure in the U17 camp that will make major strides over the next 4-5 years too.
Most guys will be ‘busts’. That is expected. You’d have to be a complete idiot to not know this, and mock the fact that they all didn’t become stars, lol.
A quality national team will only ever have 4-5 impact players, surrounded by quality depth players who know their roles.
Our team in Russia was led by Modric, Rakitic, Perisic, Mandzukic. That foursome was the most impactful.
Other players like Vrsaljko, Brozo, Vida, Lovren, Rebic, and Krama were excellent…and played their roles extremely well, but those four were the stars.
Brekalo and Vlasic are already showing that they can get there. Kovacic is starting to really take some steps forward. Couple this with the two dozen youngsters who are all doing really well in their age group, and we will be fine for the next generation if a couple more pan out.
So this is a topic near and dear to my heart
I long ragged on the overhyped youth brought through the media hype machine and covered in diaspora drool
as expected, I’ve been proven correct with these “next” messi’s consistently failing to be
as I like to always say, if you think a prospect is really good in his youth, we should hope he can become perisic
thinking its a base case that he becomes anything more is possible, but not realistic
so that being said
lately , stuff at the company has been so busy, so we don’t have the kind of time any more, but like I’ve said before, we used to have the interns and new analysts do some soccer analytics to familiarize themselves with certain programming/stat skills etc
the models consistently did love brekalo…and they also liked halilovic as well…these were mostly pulling from international youth matches
but for offensive players, the model loves successful take ons as a predictor of future success and both brekalo and halilovic were thriving in that area
I believe brekalo has continued to hold that ability, and we don’t do the analytics any more but just watching him play i’m still very high on his future
halilovic is floating in space… as someone mentioned, when he was playing with Gijon and other teams, he actually had a great ability to carry the ball and have defenders chase him…. ultimately though, he did lack consistency on how those plays ended and his complete lack of a right foot has immensely weakened his progress
based on those Gijon days, I still hold some hope for halilovic…I wonder how much fitness is playing a role with him though…I couldn’t help but think he looks a bit pudgier than someone in their early 20s should
that being said, I had long mocked the overhype of these players and lets give an update assessmemt
ante chode-itch (done)
Andrija balls-lick (done)
Josip rado-suck-ic (done)
Marko pee-ass-a (had promise but early on said he’d never be the same, was ridiculed)
Josip bust-alo (actually like him)
alen halilo-bitch (haven’t completely given up on him but chances fading)
tin jedva igra (ehhh, he’ll still fill some gaps for us)
marcelo bozo-vic (turning out the best of the bunch)
borna so-so (no explanation needs)
nikola slow-mo-ro (don’t expect much)
Very fair what happened to the Serb, racism is not in agreement with the football constitution.
Your bitch shouldnt be shopping at Hermes on an MLS salary
That Serbian bitch is a moral coward.
New FRESH topic …tea Katai getting her man turfed from the MLS with her comments on not so social media.
Was it fair ?Her shopping trips to Hermès and Gucci might be curtailed for a while.
@Pro white guy
Hey dopey, your white America doesn’t exist anymore, if it ever did lol. Didn’t white protestants need negroes to their yard work for ’em? Then they even copulated and procreated with negroes, so what’s your problem libtard?
You all see what an absolute MORON @pro croatian guy is. You all see what is going on, antiWhites don’t care what nationality, religion, political party you belong to, if you are white you are guilty and most atone. But MORON @pro croatian guy’s sick little mind is buried in a world that doesn’t exist anymore b/c he’s afraid to face reality. Or, he’s just a MORON.
Now white people don’t even have the right to remain silent, now white people have to repeat Political Correctness Gospel “or it’s racist consent”, i.e. HERESY! No different from when Catholics and Protestants burned heretics alive in Medieval times, but the Inquisitors of today really believe they are secular modern sophisticates.
“Stipe is just protecting his business interests and
Community.” – An excuse for moral cowardness.
Elviss said “Over 90% of violent interracial crime is B on W, do White Lives matter?”
No fake opposition cuckservative is allowed to point that out by their liberal masters, let alone repeat it over and over and over again the way liberals repeat “racist”.
@pro croatian guy, The U.S. was founded by Whites “For OURSELVES and OUR posterity”, it was a rejection of loyalty to words, be it catholic words, protestant words, loyalty to a king or flag. The FIRST amendment proves “OUR posterity” doesn’t mean protestants.
1) And if America is such a “s###hole”, why do third worlders risk their lives to come here?
2) How can you be pro croatian and antiWhite at the same time?
I think any player’s game is best suited against lower tier talent. 🙂
Not sure if I ever heard of a player who’s game is better suited against better opponents. Usually if your opponent is worse, you will probably perform better.
However, if it’s a situation re: strategy where Wolfsburg dominates possession against a weaker team (who are more likely to bunker down in large spells), and his game is better suited at creating chances in tight areas…then yea, I’ll believe that.
However, He’s pretty speedy too, so I would be surprised if he didn’t do well on counter attacks as well (against opponents who would dominate possession over you).
My guess is that Brekalo is one of Wolfsburg’s best (most creative) players and the better teams are aware of this and they zero in on him, forcing the less talented Germans on Wolfsburg to have to try and create something for themselves. Wolfsburg doesn’t seem to have any decent or creative central midfielders on their squad.
Not sure. I don’t really watch Wolfburg games enough to know for sure what the reasons would be of Brekalo underperforming at times for them, yet doing pretty damn good for us. Not worried at all.
He’s an incredibly good ‘buy low’ candidate for his next transfer. The club who buys him will cash in huge.
I expect a solid game from Brekalo this weekend, his team is playing the 2nd worst team in the Bundesliga.
His game is best suited to thrive against bottom tier talent. This is not a knock on Brekalo, it just goes to show his talent set is superior to bottom tier Bundesliga talent, which is pretty darn good.
On the National Team he will thrive against better talent because our team is loaded, and he can exploit the space we create for him.
American lives don’t matter.
Stipe is just protecting his business interests and
Community. We don’t need Antifa homos
Attacking the NYC Croatian Church. That being said
Over 90% of violent interracial crime is B on W, do White
Lives matter?
@Pro white guy
There is no conservatives in America you idiot. That shithole was built on a liberal protestant foundation, discovered after the signing of the peace of westphalia, something that the Supreme Roman Pontiff was against, he knew what that shit meant!
The Ustasa way of “Bog i Hrvati” is something protestant countries will always be against.
Laugh at the world like me, Fuck white and negro protestants, they can all go to HELL.
1 Thessalonians 5:15
See that none render evil for evil to any man; but ever follow that which is good towards each other, and towards all men.
Was what that cop did was evil? Yes.
Who is rendering evil for evil? The dumb negroes, led by the nose by the white protestant trash of America.
Fuck America, let the shithole burn like HELL!
Never forget what America, England and commie Russia did to my people after wwii when they dumped a Catholic people into communist Yugoslavia like trash. Fuck ’em all LOL!
Any establishment that cannot allow one heresy, cannot allow one all white community anywhere is a house of cards.
@Anonymous, Stipe is a moral coward. He’s not worried about his white daughter growing up as a mistreated minority in a declining 3rd world brown hellhole though?
Negros are protected by the CRIMINAL antiWhite establishment right now. And that establishment INCLUDES Cuckservatives – they play the role of Fake Opposition. That’s pretty obvious.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.jiujitsutimes.com/stipe-miocic-voices-support-for-blm-movement-im-worried-about-the-world-my-daughter-has-to-grow-up-in/amp/
Go Stipe, getting behind black lives matter like a real American Croat.
Imagine if the Croats had the spirit of the negro, we wouldn’t of dismmissed the murder of Ante Paradzik like it was nothing!
It’s funny seeing the media reporting what so and so athlete has to say about current events. As though what they have to say is important. We all know what they are going to say: whatever our established religion of Political Correctness demands must be said. And if you step out of line a little bit, you must grovel like a bitch and still be whipped. It looks like it’s going to have to take a large scale bloodletting to get our freedom back.
Krunchie was good, until he suddenly stopped caring at age 26
Krunchie was dope.
More of a match winner than Kovacic.
Kovačić’s and Brozović’s improvements these past couple of years has been huge for us.
I guess it should have been expected since Croats (not named Kranjčar) do tend to bloom around that age.
Those two could probably give us 80% of what Modrić/Rakitić gave us. Throw in a constantly improving Vlašić into that midfield, and we’re still up there for a while.
@Soul- Nice food for thought.
I’ll say one thing, Rebic and Vlasic are not lacking on the ball.
Rebic, in particular, does what needs to be done, then moves the ball. Soccer IQ.
Watch young Halilovic, that kid could hold the ball all day… however he never made the smart final decision. Losing soccer. That is something Alen can learn with time.
@ Maminjo
Balić and Coric thing maybe a simple case of not being able to adapt your Croatian midfield game to the next level?
Seems we value the Balić type player over the Vlašić type player?
Silky smooth technician with pure touch who excels at youth level and his told how good he is, but maybe he is just good at certain aspects of the game that are highly esteemed in Croatia.
Stari was a classic Croatian type #8 baller himself equipped with all the technical dribbling skills at 190 cm.
He loves the dribbling skills of our technicians.
But for years I would lose my mind watching our beloved Vatreni being SLOW and PREDICTABLE with Modrić suffocated having 3/4 defenders keying in on him.
As a basketball player I understand spacing against help side defense (bunker).
Rebić and Vlašić are the two players that provide verticality and width to our attack and give space to our technicians to work.
Also Modrić and Brozovic run and play box to box.
Modrić went from #10 to 8 (humble adjustment) at Tottenham. Brozovic is the center of the Conte machine and runs all day.
There is a physical aspect to soccer that catches up with our young little magicians that they don’t seem to be ready for?
Which occurs to me a pretty basic thing to train?
But when you are told your are the best from 12-16, then it may be tough to transform weak areas of your game going forward.
Big time clubs give the nod to home grown players (Zanioli/Roma) over the expendable nogometaš (Coric).
19/20 year old on his own needs support from the clubs but with changing coaches there is little time for that.
You need to be ready to rock as soon as you sign that big time contract.
Also need to do more research into the style and stability of the club and ask yourself if your are the right fit?
Young Rebić struggled at Fiorentina with the Serie A tactics.
Same thing happened at AC Milan before they realized to craft tactics around him and then he flourished.
Curious to see what happens now with Rebić?
Also Rakitic is underrated on how strong and powerful he is and the running he does for Messi and farca.
Yes he lacks speed and seems to run inefficiently a bit, but his physical presence cannot be under estimated.
Kovačić has come a long way since Lukaku brushed him off like a rag doll.
He is a legit physical presence now in the middle who is finally gaining real confidence.
I hope the success of Rebić and Vlašić give inspiration to the young athletic kids in Croatia who may be not so polished with the ball but have potential. They could give us that much needed power and dynamic movement in certain areas of the pitch.
Also maybe our youth coaches can expand their lenses to see more diversity in our talent pool and produce as many wingers and strikers as we do midfielders.
Argentina = best soccer hair.
Long but not too coifed like the Italians.
We have too many good young midfielders coming up the ranks to bother with Ante Ćorić and Andrija Balić.
Balić is playing in the Slovak league, which is several steps below the HNL. Ćorić in Second Division Spain. It’s pointless to even talk about these guys.
We’ve got guys who are years younger, doing bigger things on better teams and leagues.
These guys could have stayed in the HNL another year or two, but chose to move for the better salary. Can’t blame them, but if you have bigger aspirations, then you need to play the long game. It’s obvious that Balić and Ćorić don’t.
Vlašić’s father did the opposite when Hajduk tried to sell his kid off, and look at how Nikola Vlašić’s career went compared to Ćorić and Balić.
Balić was considered a bigger talent. Now look at the gap between them.
Hey Vuki !!
My man, well done with all these meaningful articles.
Halilović looked the finished article with Villarreal before serious ankle injury.
All good.
Nogometaši do not get written off till age 28.
Ante Coric Roma move bothers me the most as it is like the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
These bone head moves to big clubs with zero opportunities to play his soul stunting.
I feel it speaks to a deeper immaturity as a nation that we collectively do such naive business transactions.
It’s like we are all playing checkers.
We got this great league for teenagers to play first team football and then we screw them from 18-22?
Not having our young people ready for the world is counter to our core ethos as Hrvati.
HNL has to stregtnen to the next level and HNS has to support.
We need 4-8 legit clubs throughout Croatia and kids need to be able to stay and play till 20-22.
Leave with your man body and your talent defined.
Bring your game .. NOT your name.
For example, I don’t think Marcelo Brozović was poor… But his dad took him out of school to focus entirely on football.
Seems like a crazy thing to do, but they went all in. His dad justified it by saying by saying that Marcelo didn’t even focus in school anyway.
@Maminjo
What about Croatia, how is life over there?
Well there are probably fewer Italian and Portuguese immigrants relative to the Arabic ones nowadays.
Life in Italy today is better than in Canada. You couldn’t say the same thing 40 or 50 years ago.
Also, restauranteurs are usually a little lazy and dumb. I wouldn’t consider them as the type of people who do what it takes. There isn’t a demand for yet even more fast food joints, but they keep opening up with razor thin margins and very low quality food. Most of them cook the books, avoid tax and fold.
Skilled trades however require some brains and a lot of hard work. Those guys are definitely fulfilling a need and are working very hard.
But poor folks are generally ALL IN when it comes to sports, as they don’t have other options. Probably a factor in why Brazil produces so many quality footballers.
I really thought Ćorić was going to develop into a stud…I was seduced by his you tube vids.
There seems to be a parallel between being poor growing up…Modrić Perisic…and growing up in a well to do family,and not having to fight for anything.
A few of the busts came from families with cash.
It’s no different in Canada,you have these Syrians hungry aggressive and doing whatever it takes to make it in the new world.
No more Italian or Portuguese brick layers barbers home builders restauranteurs etc etc …it’s all Arabs taking over!
Much like football talent, hair must also be assessed by at least age 26
Balic’s hair is not a failure!
Yeah Maminjo, I tend to agree with you on Delač and Radošević. It shows that once they left Croatia they completely fell off. Radošević did start to show some talent once he left Napoli though and it looked like he could still be alright. He’s not a terrible player now, honestly same level as a player like Filip Bradarić. Yet he got a good few call ups to the national team. Balić definitely shows something when he’s in the mood. I never completely write people off until they are at least 26 so who knows. I can definitely see your point though.
My reasons why these guys are busts…
Halilovic:
– Too easily pushed off the ball and expects fouls to be called in his favor if he can’t get a clear path
– Relies entirely on his skills, and did not prioritize strength and conditioning (which is fine in U19 tournaments, but bad when you’re playing against 30 year olds in the big leagues)
– Prima donna attitude; Expect to always receive the ball, and never wants to pass it to others (thinks he is a bigger star than he is)
– Father makes bad decisions (should have stayed at Dinamo, instead of trying to go to Barca); Probably at fault for Alen’s primma donna attitude
Radošević:
– Was never really that good; Always a hard worker with some decent skills but too early to confirm if he was truly a talent; Hyped too early
– Made the bad decision (or good decision if you just consider the financials) to make the move to Napoli over Parma in his first move; Maybe he and his camp knew he wasn’t that good so they went for the bigger contract
Matej Delač
– Was never good; He had a good clean sheet streak in a weak league which was likely moreso from how well his team was playing (he wasn’t even good on our U19 team)
– Made thee (good) decision to jump on the lazy and irresponsible Chelsea ‘buy and loan’ system where Chelsea just bought whoever was hyped and loaned them out without doing any real scouting
Balić:
– Same reasons as Halilovic above…but with less talent, horrible conditioning (couldn’t play full games), and with a terrible father managing his career.
Pjaca:
– Serious and legitimate star talent that was ended when his glass knees broke
Halilovic and Pjaca are actually very talented players, who could eventually make the National Team if they can overcome their issues…but they won’t ever meet their potential.
Balic, Radosevic and especially Delac shouldn’t even be followed anymore.
Balic had some solid talent, but easily gets cancelled out by his other issues. Radosevic has debatable talent. Delac never had any.
I think Andrija Balic will still pan out to be special. The come thread is just they get to teams where for whatever reason they don’t get much playing time which stunts there growth.
Brekalo is a game changer for the NT. everytime he’s come on for us he’s brought a tempo that we were missing. you can really feel it. — hate to see any failed wonderkid but they really are moving from the HNL too soon. everyone should stay to at least 21-22. take a page from Olmo’s book
I judge players on how they perform at international level.
Brekalo has been huge for us, and influences every game he plays in.
If he’s not doing as well at Wolfsburg, I could care less.
Not sure what the reasons are, but I’m sure there are many factors that we’re not able to see.
Nonetheless, there’s nothing worse than players who play better for club than country.
Good news is Brekalo is not one of them.
Have a look at this dickhead, he’s comparing Belgium to the Bundesliga!
Josip Brekalo- Everybody’s savior, but just can’t get it done vs decent level teams. His numbers are arguably worse than Halilovic’s this year. Against bottom tier talent, he looks like the best talent we’ve seen since Nikola Vlasic.
It’s funny Halilovic is everybody’s fave to beat up on. He heated up right before the lockdown, hopefully he can turn it around for himself.
I kid, guys. Brekalo is not Bustalo…yet